The Kennedy Center Honors will be held at the Capital One Arena in downtown Washington, a spokesperson confirmed to MS NOW on Friday, moving the prestigious annual gala out of its longtime home overlooking the Potomac River after the center’s Trump-appointed board voted to shutter for renovations last month.

It marks the first time in the ceremony’s nearly 50-year history that the marquee event will be held outside the John F. Kennedy Center for Performing Arts. The event is set to take place on Dec. 7. The center will announce this year’s honorees at a later date.

President Donald Trump’s takeover of the storied, historically apolitical arts institution last year led to something of a crisis at the organization. After multiple artists cut ties with the center and canceled their performances, Richard Grenell, a longtime Trump adviser who was president of the center at the time, accused the artists of being “far-left political activists.” Ratings for last year’s Kennedy Center Honors, which Trump hosted, dropped 26% from the previous year.

The center continues to be plagued by a legal skirmish over Trump’s dogged efforts to add his name to it. After a federal judge temporarily shot down another one of its efforts to inscribe Trump’s name on the main building, the board voted to shut down the venue on Sept. 15, citing safety and financial concerns.

But Trump has said that renovations on the center can only move forward if a court allows the name change, leaving the institution’s fate in limbo.

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From MS Now.